With a trading history of more than 140 years and extensive experience in supplying low voltage (LV) products, Blackburn Starling has evolved into a global supplier with an unrivalled reputation for technical excellence and product innovation. Products include power distribution, motor control centres, package substations and control and instrument panels. Blackburn Starling also provides fully integrated SCADA / PLC / HMI control systems to a diverse range of industry sectors.

Blackburn Starling was founded in the 1870s and started out as a small manufacturing business with a production unit in the centre of Nottingham. Today, the company operates from a 4.5-acre purpose-built site situated on the outskirts of the city. Full in-house facilities cover all aspects of metal fabrication, design and manufacture and automated control systems.

Following years of dedication to excellent customer service and innovation, Blackburn Starling has gained an enviable reputation across the globe in a variety of industry sectors, including:

Oil and gas

Water and sewage

Power generation

Telecommunications

Chemical

Rail and transportation

Already established within the oil and gas market, the company has seen continuous growth during the past 15 years. With an experienced team of trained personnel, the company routinely offers complementary services such as site surveys (onshore / offshore), project management, installation, commissioning, maintenance, service contracts and training.

Standard and custom low voltage products

Blackburn Starling offers a comprehensive range of fully type-tested standard-built assemblies using proven technology. Its totally in-house manufacturing facilities provide the company with the flexibility and capability to manufacture custom-built solutions, tailor made to satisfy the specific and unique needs of individual customer requirements.

The company’s greatest strength is that it is an independent manufacturer large enough to cope with demand but still small enough to personally care about each and every one of its valued customers. Everything that is manufactured by Blackburn Starling is produced in the company’s spacious and modern 6,500m² production facility. Supply equipment is sourced predominantly from major international suppliers, for which spares and support is available worldwide. This gives Blackburn Starling the flexibility to offer the best technical solution at competitive prices to satisfy the exact needs of the customer.

Fully integrated control systems

By designing, manufacturing and supporting bespoke control systems that offer proven performance and are intelligent, reliable, robust and delivered on schedule, Blackburn Starling guarantees its customers total control.

Customer demands in control applications are becoming increasingly sophisticated and complex, and management information is increasingly required at all strategic levels. Blackburn Starling offers a totally integrated solution from plant sensor through to high-level management information systems. Specialising in programming a wide range of SCADA / HMI / PLC control systems, the company is a systems integrator partner for Siemens, Rockwell, Mitsubishi and many others.

The company’s extensive product range includes fixed and withdrawable equipment, conventional and intelligent options, fault ratings up to 100kA for one second and ingress ratings up to IP54, all in accordance with ISO 9001:2008 quality assurance accreditation and the latest European standards. All products are fully compliant with the associated specifications that are required throughout the oil and gas sector, and an ongoing testing policy keeps the company at the forefront of its field.

Offshore site surveys

Blackburn Starling has an extensive and varied portfolio of offshore projects. It presently works in the oil and gas market with major companies such as Amec, Wood Group PSN, Shell UK, BP, CNR International, GDF Suez and many others.

The company undertakes projects as small as offshore site surveys to multi-million pound installations. It has a team of experienced installation and commissioning engineers who are MIST and BOSIET accredited and available for mobilisation when required by the customer.

Offshore product maintenance

Blackburn Starling believes that the increase in refurbishment projects for the company is due to the growing need to extend the life of already standing oil platforms in / close to reservoirs that still contain significant amounts of oil. These platforms are needed for the production of oil in areas previously thought to be depleted, resulting in inspections and repairs which could potentially extend the lifecycle of the platform for a further 20 to 30 years.

As well as the life extension of oil platforms, the increasing demand for Blackburn Starling’s services is also drawn from the company’s flexibility and ability to manufacture tailor-made LV panels to the latest standards. Being able to provide assurances of guaranteed required delivery dates allows customers to confidently plan operation shutdowns with minimum downtime.

Blackburn Starling is looking to build on the successful foundations already achieved and increase its profile in the oil and gas market to ensure future growth and success. The company believes it has the potential for a significant amount of growth in this area, which can be achieved without compromising the high level of customer focus.